#3-479
Memorandum for Colonel Young
January 6, 1943 [Washington, D.C.]
Secret
Subject: Engagements and special matters to be attended to during my absence.1
January 23rd
I have a very important engagement to meet the American Society of Newspaper Editors at 9:45 A.M. This group appointed a committee headed by Mr. B. M. McKelway of the Washington Star, with David Lawrence and one other, to serve as a contact with me in case of any matter such as the Dalian incident so that the editorials throughout the country might be properly influenced. I attach considerable importance to meeting these men personally and therefore I am asking General McNarney to represent me and to read an informal talk that I have prepared.2
February 22nd
I have an engagement to go to Richmond on Washington's Birthday to introduce Sir John Dill at a meeting of the English-Speaking Union. They expect four or five thousand people. If I am unable to make the trip I would like to have General Arnold or General McNair do this for me. Look up the correspondence between Dill and me and between Mr. Weddell, the former Ambassador to Spain, and me.3
Income Tax
If I should be delayed in my return please address a letter to the Collector of Internal Revenue, Baltimore, Maryland, and inform him that my return will be delayed because of absence from the country.
Document Copy Text Source: George C. Marshall Papers, Pentagon Office Collection, Selected Materials, George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington, Virginia.
Document Format: Typed memorandum.
1. Marshall was preparing to leave for the Casablanca Conference. Afterward he planned to travel to the Pacific by way of the Middle East, Ceylon, and Australia prior to returning to Washington. (Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States: The Conferences at Washington, 1941–1942, and Casablanca, 1943 [Washington: GPO, 1968], p. 507.) Concerning his trip, see editorial note #3-484, Papers of George Catlett Marshall [3: 513–18].
2. The editors postponed their annual meeting until February 12–13. Marshall and Admiral King addressed a secret session on February 13, where they "frankly discussed military plans and progress." (New York Times, February 14, 1943, p. 48.) The text Marshall prepared is Informal and Off-the-Record Statement, February 13, 1943, pp. 543–49. Benjamin M. McKelway was associate editor of the Washington Evening Star; David Lawrence was the president and editor of U.S. News.
3. Alexander W. Weddell, who had served as ambassador to Spain between May 1939 and February 1942, was a national vice-president of the English-Speaking Union and chairman of the Arrangements Committee for the Richmond meeting. On February 1 Marshall informed him that Dill, who was on an inspection trip in Asia, would be unable to attend. (Marshall to Weddell, February 1, 1943, GCMRL/G. C. Marshall Papers [Pentagon Office, Selected].)
Recommended Citation: ThePapers of George Catlett Marshall, ed.Larry I. Bland and Sharon Ritenour Stevens (Lexington, Va.: The George C. Marshall Foundation, 1981– ). Electronic version based on The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, vol. 3, “The Right Man for the Job,” December 7, 1941-May 31, 1943 (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991), pp. 507–508.